Serpant stars..Reef safe??

[cato]

Are serpant stars reef safe? Will they deplete my live sandbed of life?

[Lev F.]

Yep, they're reef safe. Great scavengers too.

[outta names]

I have had one in my tank for about a year with no problems. I wouldn't worry about them depleting your sandbed life either, I have tons of critters in mine.

[waterfaller1]

Not all serpent stars are created equal.Be forwarned..if he cannot scavenge enough food and you don't spot feed him,he can take out small inverts or fish.Green brittles and even the brown ones,can get huge and are predatory.

[JENnKerry]

Brittle stars and serpent stars are two different types of stars. Like waterfaller said, beware of green brittles.

[jpslickorocks]

mine does not bother any of the other inhabitants of my tank but he is very aggressive at feeding time

[cato]

What are other options for scavengers?

[StinkinTuna]

In my opinion not worth it to have. You will hardly ever see him (at least I hardly see mine) and if they get hungry like mentioned above (hard to feed the guy if you don't see him) they'll make a meal out of your snails....I have both a serpent and brittle star (no green ones) and I have seen them both attack snails on the very few occassions I do get to see them.....

It looks cool on display in a LFS but if you have alot of rockwork I wouldnt suggest them. Regret getting them IMHO.

I don;t believe they will disrupt and deplete all the goodies in your sandbed, I think they go after larger, meatier prey...at least in my experience.

[StinkinTuna]

Go for sand sifting stars (some don;t like them cause they believe it to go after the goodies in the sandbed (which they do) but I suppose it depends on how deep or how much of a sandbed you have....

I used to not want hermit crabs, but they are seriously great to have for cleanup (scarlet & blue legged), and of course snails...shrimp (peppermint & Skunk) are great little cleaners too, but I think the small hermits do the best job. I do like the sand sifting stars (i have a 6" sandbed) cause they keep the top surface moving without disrupting the depper layers)

[cato]

What the best for keeping the topsand turned in a shallow (2-3 inches) sandbed?? Or should I even worry about it?

[phishlet]

If hungry, serpent stars will go after your livestock. Be especially careful with small gobies that burrow in the sand and jawfish. Serpent stars are known to hover over their burrow and wait for the fish to ascend and then pounce on the fish.

[StinkinTuna]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6610817#post6610817 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by chirocato
What the best for keeping the topsand turned in a shallow (2-3 inches) sandbed?? Or should I even worry about it?

Sand Sifting stars and snails (Nassarius?) the ones that burrow into the sand and come out to feed.

Some people like getting cucumbers - I think its a' tiger tail cucumber' or something like that which is a good sand sifter, but I hear they get to be pretty big and with a shallow sandbed might not be the best thing for your tank..... but I don't have one so can't speak out of experience.

[dc1718]

Now I know what happened to my orange spotted gobbies....I love serpent stars, I like seeing legs hanging out of the rocks. But My Snails are also disappearing and so are my scarlets. Could that be the Serpent?

[waterfaller1]

Sand sifting stars do not eat detritus and leftover food.They will eat the beneficial infauna from your sandbed.Most average tanks are not big enough to support them.Sandsifting gobies will do the same.
Cerith and nassarius snails,and atlantic spotted cucumbers are all good for the sand.Trochus grazers will help with sand,rocks,and glass.

[capncapo]

Brittle stars and serpent stars are two different types of stars.


Actually, they're not. ALL Serpent stars ARE brittle stars but not all brittle stars are serpent stars.

[JENnKerry]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6612414#post6612414 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by capncapo
Actually, they're not. ALL Serpent stars ARE brittle stars but not all brittle stars are serpent stars.


Most serpent stars come from the genus Ophioderma while most common brittles come from the genus Ophiocoma, Ophiothrix and Ophiura. They have very similar traits but are different.

If you like crabs I would highly recommend a sally lightfoot crab. Alot of people don't like them for their "bad reputation" of supposedly going after fish. They are The Best scavenger I have ever seen. Always on the go, looking for food and they eat various types of different algaes. I would trade all of my hermits for my sally any day. It's going on a year and a half since I got mine and he has been a model citizen.

[bhdmc]

The green serpent stars, I would avoid if you have small fishes.

[JENnKerry]

I would avoid the greens altogether.